BIAS
The goal of the BIAS (Blending Information in Antenna Synthesis) project is to include information theoretical specifications in the antenna synthesis process.
An example: synthesis of antennas for sector MIMO communication systems
As an example, in the following movie the radiation pattern and the constellation of a QPSK MIMO communication system using 2 spatial channels is shown in case of no constraint on the pattern...
MIMO_QPSK_a.avi... and when a constraint on the maximum value of the radiation pattern outside the (-45°, 45*) angular range is imposed (sidelobes below -40 dB)
MIMO_QPSK_b.aviThis example is discussed in more details in the IEEE TAP paper "Horse (Electromagnetics) is more important than horseman (information) for wireless transmission".
My personal vision is that adaptive BIAS antennas are the basic blocks of highly flexible communication systems, in which antennas and MAC protocol are strictly connected in order to maximize the throughput of the communication system.
An example of this cross-layer approach is outlined in D. Pinchera , M. D. Migliore, "Cross-layer Analysis of a Smart Antenna for Wireless Mesh Networks"
More information on the research regarding BIAS can be found in the "Papers/Cross Layers" section of this site.